Not Condemned, but Set Free, to Walk Free June 4, 2017 Romans 8:1-4 Matt Rawlings

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1 1 Not Condemned, but Set Free, to Walk Free June 4, 2017 Romans 8:1-4 Matt Rawlings Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. [Pray] There is a question that should concern every person in this room. There is a crucial question that every one of us must consider and come to terms with. The question is, How do you know you won t be condemned when you stand before God? How can you be sure that God doesn t condemn you and won t condemn you? For some here, you may be ambivalent to this question because you think that if there is a God, then He isn t the kind of God that punishes people. But, God has revealed Himself, His character and nature in the Bible and it is clear that He is a God of justice and doesn t let sin go unpunished. Others might think that you ve been pretty good and because God is merciful, that He understands and will cut you some slack, because you don t think you ve been that bad really and He knows that you re really good at heart. But the problem with that theory is that you underestimate the seriousness of even one sin as gross rebellion against our Creator God s perfect character and nature. You also underestimate how bad you really are, because you are comparing yourself to other people and not God s standard of perfection. Others might blatantly defy God and think that they will face their punishment bravely. But you don t understand just how horrific the wrath of God can be and you really aren t grasping the idea of eternal condemnation and punishment. But the primary people that this question is important for in this passage of Romans is the Christian. How do we as Christians know we won t be condemned before God? When you wrestle with sin and give into sin, even when you say you want to obey God, how do you deal with the feelings of condemnation that come? When you know you have sinned and you know you shouldn t have and wish you hadn t what do you do with those feelings of condemnation? When you have failed for the millionth time and you feel like a loser what do you do with those feelings of condemnation? How can you have confidence as a Christian that there is no condemnation for you? That is what Paul is addressing in these verses. As Romans has shown us thus far, even Christians still wrestle with sin, but the first thing we must see from these verses, is that we can be sure that 1. Christians have no condemnation (verse 1) 1

2 2 There are lots of headlines that seek to grab our attention but none of them will truly last. What is attention grabbing is one headline that will change the entire way you live your life every day no condemnation. [Illustration of Bishop Beinevenue and Jean Val Jean: Jean val jean served 19 years in prison for stealing bread for his starving sister and trying to escape. Caught with silver he d stolen the police ask the bishop and the bishop says he forgot his gift of the candlesticks too. "Ah! here you are!" he exclaimed, looking at Jean Valjean. "I am glad to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away with your forks and spoons?" Jean Valjean opened his eyes wide, and stared at the venerable Bishop with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of. "Monseigneur," said the brigadier of gendarmes, "so what this man said is true, then? We came across him. He was walking like a man who is running away. We stopped him to look into the matter. He had this silver--" "And he told you," interposed the Bishop with a smile, "that it had been given to him by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom he had passed the night? I see how the matter stands. And you have brought him back here? It is a mistake." "In that case," replied the brigadier, "we can let him go?" Certainly," replied the Bishop. The gendarmes released Jean Valjean, who recoiled. "Is it true that I am to be released?" he said, in an almost inarticulate voice, and as though he were talking in his sleep. "Yes, thou art released; dost thou not understand?" said one of the gendarmes. "My friend," resumed the Bishop, "before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them." He stepped to the chimney-piece, took the two silver candlesticks, and brought them to Jean Valjean. The two women looked on without uttering a word, without a gesture, without a look which could disconcert the Bishop. Jean Valjean was trembling in every limb. He took the two candlesticks mechanically, and with a bewildered air. "Now," said the Bishop, "go in peace. By the way, when you return, my friend, it is not necessary to pass through the garden. You can always enter and depart through the street door. It is never fastened with anything but a latch, either by day or by night." Then, turning to the gendarmes:-- "You may retire, gentlemen." The gendarmes retired. Jean Valjean was like a man on the point of fainting. 2

3 3 The Bishop drew near to him, and said in a low voice:-- "Do not forget, never forget, that you have promised to use this money in becoming an honest man." Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything, remained speechless. The Bishop had emphasized the words when he uttered them. He resumed with solemnity:-- "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God."] But when Paul begins by saying there is therefore now no condemnation, what is he referring to with the therefore? Whenever you see a therefore, it generally refers back to something before it. The last part of the verse immediately before this therefore is Romans 7:25 So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. But, Paul certainly isn t meaning to say that because he serves the law of God with his mind and he serves the law of sin with his flesh, that there is no condemnation that doesn t make sense. So, on what grounds is there no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? The therefore seems to be flowing from the statement that launched the passage right before this one. Look up at verse 6 of Romans 7, where Paul declared an amazingly freeing truth. Romans 7:6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. He writes that we are released from the law because we died to the law that held us captive. We are no longer obligated to serve the law because we died to being a slave to the law s demands. As we place our faith in Christ Jesus, we are counted as dead to sin and alive to God. By faith in Jesus Christ we died to our old nature. We died to being under Adam and the reign of our sin nature in the death of Christ. We died to being under the penalty and punishment we deserved for breaking God s good and right law. As we ve learned, what this means, is that the law can no longer punish us, since the law cannot carry out a sentence on someone who is dead. Why is this important? This is very important for us to understand and to live in the good of, because, in ourselves, we rightly deserve to be condemned by God. Not only were we born into the sin of Adam and through Adam s sin were we found guilty, we also have added every manner of our own sin and disobedience to God and piled up our own guilt before God. For Adam s sin and for each and every one of our own sin, on our own, apart from salvation, we deserve condemnation. So, what is condemnation? Condemnation is the declaration of a legal standing and the punishment that the crime deserves. If you break the law and maliciously kill someone, and the state discovers it and finds evidence of your crime, they will formally charge you for murder. In the courtroom, the prosecutor will pursue a guilty verdict, while your lawyer might seek to have you acquitted. The outcome will be either a verdict of acquittal or guilt. You will either be found free from the penalty of the law or you will be accountable to the law for your crime and face punishment. Through this process, you will either be vindicated or condemned. If you are found guilty, you are then condemned and you might face the death penalty. Until you are punished, you are 3

4 4 living imprisoned under this sentence of condemnation and you are awaiting your final punishment. In the court system, feeling bad about your crime doesn t remove your condemnation. But once you are put to death for your crime, you cannot be punished again so there is now, no condemnation. As creatures before our Creator God, we have all been found guilty and condemned by His law. We deserve the just punishment for breaking His law. On our own, we are condemned and living imprisoned by the law, unable to go free, being punished and awaiting our final punishment. But, if by faith, we are in Christ Jesus if all of our hope for life is in Christ, in His life in our place, in His death, burial and resurrection in our place, then God declares that we have died with Christ, our old body of death has been buried and we have been raised to new life in Christ Jesus. So, now, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The only question for us, is whether we are in Christ Jesus by the grace of God, through faith in His life, death, burial and resurrection in our place. So - are you in Christ Jesus today? If not, there is indeed condemnation for you and you are imprisoned in your sin and one day you will be finally condemned, whether you like it or believe it. You can be in Christ Jesus He is calling to you now to repent of trusting in yourself, to repent of all your sins and to believe in Him by faith. Then, trust in the grace of God to forgive you for your sins, because Jesus died in your place and trust in His resurrection that He was raised for you. Because, oh, if you are in Christ Jesus then there is no condemnation for you. Believer you can be sure, no matter how weak or feeble you may be or feel, there is no condemnation for you, who are in Christ Jesus. Even when you struggle, just like the Apostle Paul did when you don t do the things you want to do and instead you do the very things you don t want to do there is no condemnation for you. When you agree with the law of God that it is good and you want to obey God and yet, you find a war going on and you fail there is no condemnation. When you are tempted to think that there is no hope in yourself because you just can t stop sinning there is no condemnation for you. There is no sentence hanging over your head. God is not waiting to punish you you are dead to the law already. The law cannot declare you guilty anymore. We ve been freed from the prison-house of sin as F.F. Bruce called it. We ve been pardoned completely and no longer live as prisoners to sin. If you are in Christ when you feel guilty you must preach to yourself that there is no condemnation Jesus took all of our guilt on Himself. When you displease God, remember that He has already forgiven you and He stands ready for you to ask forgiveness, be reconciled to Him and He does not condemn you. The reason there is no condemnation for you, is because the law of the Spirit of life has set you free. Look at verse 2. There is a second truth that we must be sure of, as we wrestle with remaining sin as Christians, and the truth is, that 2. Christians are set free by the Spirit (verse 2) 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 4

5 5 In 2003, some of you will remember it, in Las Vegas. There was a story, you remember, of Roy Horn, of Siegfried and Roy who had performing tigers. Remember the story? And he told this tiger to do something, and the tiger refused to do it, so he tapped him on the nose. And that was it. And within a second he found himself being carried around the ring by this tiger. He spent several days hovering between life and death. He thought he was in control, but he wasn't. It's like our relationship to the law. You think you re in control, but you re not. You re a slave. You re a captive to your own sinful heart. It's like being caught. Derek Thomas The law can tell me that I am a sinner but it can t make me a saint! The mirror can show me my dirt but it cannot cleanse me! When you and I battle with sin on our own, it is a frustrating and hope-draining endeavor. Although Jean Val Jean was free to go he broke his parole and he was pursued by the policeman Javert for the rest of his life. He tried to hide but eventually the law caught up with him again. It wasn t until Javert, the lawman died, that he was set free from his pursuer. But once Javert was dead, he was free to live life again, even though he battled with his past until just before his death. If you are a Christian, then you know the battle within that Romans 7 describes. You understand the desire to just be delivered completely from remaining sin that hangs on. You know how tiring it is to try to reform yourself and how exhausting it is. We tend to condemn ourselves when we see that we ve tried and yet we ve failed yet again. The frustration we experience in these times, is because we are not meant to combat sin on our own and in our own strength. How we experience and live in the good of being free from condemnation practically, is to remember and rely on the fact that there is something Someone that is stronger than the law of sin and death. You see, the Holy Spirit has set us free in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit has raised us to new life in Jesus. Now, we are under the law or the principle of the Spirit of life no longer are we shackled to the law of sin and death. The commandment promised life but proved to be death to us, because we were too weak in our own flesh. But, in contrast, the Holy Spirit gives life and enables us to obey God. It is by the Holy Spirit, that we share in the resurrection life of Jesus. The Spirit now floods our hearts with the love of God our Father. Now that we have the Spirit, we cannot be defeated. The battle continues, but wherever the Spirit is in control, the power of indwelling sin is overcome. When you battle and it feels like you cannot continue on remember that the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus. Turn to the Holy Spirit and listen for Him ask Him to enable you and to give you His strength. Remember that it is the same life of the Holy Spirit that indwelt and anointed and empowered and raised Jesus to life this is the Holy Spirit life that you have, that has set you free. You don t have to wonder if you are free in Christ Jesus you are free indeed, no matter what you feel like. The reason there is no longer any condemnation and the reason you are free, is that God did what you couldn t do. Now, let s see the third truth that we must grasp and apply if we want to have confidence, even when we wrestle with remaining sin as Christians. The third truth from the Apostle Paul, that God wants us to get and live in the good of, is that 5

6 6 3. Christians walk according to the Spirit (verse 3-4) 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, The law could never bring about righteousness through the weakness of human flesh. The flesh was corrupted, enslaved to sin and so the law was unable to make it truly righteous. But God did what no human could do, because of sin. Because of the stranglehold of sin over humanity. Because of the weakness of human flesh, God has done what the law could never do. The law condemned but the law did not make righteous, because of the weakness of the flesh. You and I always have been too weak in our flesh to keep God s laws and we are always too weak to be righteous on our own. But God is not too weak. God has already done already finished what humanity couldn t do by keeping the law. Because of our sin nature, God sent His own son to become a man. He came in real flesh and blood God sent His son as a real, live human. He lived in the same way that we did but with one significant difference. The Son came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came as a man but Jesus was not born sinful in His flesh. And in contrast to us, He was never sinful, even though He was made of the same flesh of Adam before the fall. Where Adam failed, Christ overcame in each and every way. Jesus was tempted in every way that we are and yet, He was without sin. You might think it would be easy but if you have ever been tempted and resisted, you know it is far harder to continue to resist sin and to see it all the way through, than it is to give into sin. Adam couldn t resist sinning in response to the one command he was given. Jesus resisted sin and was faithful in all of God s commands. Jesus understands our sins and He knows how to help us with our sins, because He has overcome all the temptations that we give into. Jesus was already righteous, but He came as a man, to earn the righteousness we could never earn in the flesh. And God sent His Son, so that sin might be condemned in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God found Jesus guilty in our place. Jesus was condemned. And in His flesh, all of our sin was condemned and punished fully and completely. For our sin, because of our sin, God condemned Jesus as if He had committed every sin we have in the flesh. So, for all those who have been united with Jesus Christ by grace through faith, the power of sin has been broken. Why did God do all of this? 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. The righteous requirement of the law was that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul and all of our mind and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. On our own, none of us has done this. None of us could love God and our neighbor completely on our own. There is a pith little poem that has been attributed to John Bunyan, but no matter who said it, it is a gem we can all rejoice in. 6

7 7 Run, John, run, the law commands, But gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings: It bids us fly and gives us wings. The gospel calls us to rise above our sin and fly and it gives us wings to do it. Now, as we are in Christ, the righteous requirement of the law has been fulfilled in us. And God did all of this, so that we actually might fulfill the requirement of the law ourselves, as we learn to walk according to the Spirit and not walk according to the flesh. Now, God has given us His Spirit, to enable us to spontaneously want to love Him and love our neighbor. God sent His Son into the world in order to justify us and to sanctify us. We can trust that God is at work in us. We can trust that the Spirit is sanctifying us. With the Spirit came life, freedom and power. Those who live by the Spirit, as Paul says, produce the fruits of the Spirit. A vine does not produce grapes by Act of Parliament; they are the fruit of the vine s own life; so the conduct which conforms to the standard of the Kingdom is not produced by any demand, not even God s, but it is the fruit of that divine nature which God gives as the result of what he has done in and by Christ. S.G. Hooke As we draw near to Jesus Christ and find all of our fulfillment and life in Him, the Spirit is working to make us more holy. Take heart when you struggle and wrestle against sin, that the whole Trinity is involved in your sanctification. God the Father sent His Son so that the Spirit might sanctify us and enable us to walk in his new life. What is the main idea we must walk away with, as we want to have confidence in our life in Christ, even when we struggle with sin? Main Idea: All who are in Christ, are not condemned, but set free, so that we might walk according to the Spirit. Amen Redeeming Grace Church. This transcribed message has been lightly edited and formatted for the Website. No attempt has been made, however, to alter the basic extemporaneous delivery style, or to produce a grammatically accurate, publication-ready manuscript conforming to an established style template. 7